Hidden Heroes - Elisha & Hannah Gore Durkee

"Under the utmost oppression of sorrow, I inform you that our dear Brother Elisha is no more. He expired without a sigh or groan on the 21st of August last. He died in the full faith of Christ and love to God. He has gone the way of all flesh but God the everlasting God will be our comforter, and we must soon appear before the same God for pardon and acceptance in the merits of our redeemer. He often looked wishfully at me and shed a tear or two over his dear children who were crying by his bed he attempted to speak but in vain at last fixing his eyes toward heaven he repeated these beautiful words "In thy hands I commit my soul" for thou hast redeemed me thru God of my salvation and then closed his eyes never to be opened until the sound of the last trumpet.

Elisha's funeral was attended by a great concourse of people, it was supposed that there were one thousand people that attended his funeral, there were eighty carriages and waggons (sic) numbered. There is a meeting house erected but a little distance from Elisha's. He gave two hundred dollars toward the house and likewise two acres of land for a building spot and buring (sic) ground and he had a great anxiety that the Gospel should be preached there and he is that first one that was laid in the new and solitary grave yard."

These somber words were written in 1819 by Mary Durkee Fuller to her sister, Anna Durkee Tracy, relating the death of their brother and early Cayuga County settler, Elisha Durkee. They were transcribed from a copy on file at the Cayuga County Historian's Office, Auburn, NY. the cemetery referenced in the letter is Oak Ridge Cemetery located on Route 326 on the outskirts of Union Springs. That a "concourse of people" attended Elisha's funeral speaks to the importance of the deceased.

Elisha and Hannah Gore Durkee first arrived in Cayuga County in the fall of 1789, settling several miles north of Aurora. Both the Gore and Durkee families had been deeply involved in the Indian Wars of Wyoming County Pennsylvania. Hannah, the daughter of Judge Obadiah Gore, endured the very worst of the wars witnessing death, destruction and extreme cruelty. An account of these incredible experiences, as told by Hannah herself, can be found at this link: http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~averygoodwin/history/hannah%20gore%20durkee%20%20life%20of0001.pdf

Elisha and Hannah were the parents of Betsey Durkee, the first white child born in Cayuga County in December of 1789. The Durkees continued to witness horrific acts against the earliest settlers of our area but they endured finally settling near Scipio Center where they raised a family of 12 children with Hannah dying in 1855. Today's challenges seem great to us but to the Durkee's and other early settlers, they would be nothing.

Elisha Durkee

Hidden Hero - Will Hoagland

Running is one of today's most popular sports worldwide with over 70,000 participants in the United States alone. Strange as it sounds, during the 1870s and 1880s, America's most popular spectator sport wasn't baseball, boxing, or horse racing - it was competitive walking known as pedestrianism. Inside sold-out arenas, competitors walked around dirt tracks almost nonstop for six straight days (never on Sunday), risking their health and sanity to see who could walk the farthest - 500 miles, then 520 miles, and 565 miles! These walking matches were as talked about as the weather, the details reported form coast to coast.

World champion "pedestrian" Willard Hoagland was born in Union Springs in 1872. His father, Joshua Hoagland, and grandfather, Charles Hoagland, pioneer settlers of Union Springs, were both blacksmith and carriage makers. As a child, Will showed an aptitude for walking and walking fast. His early training was in the boat house of Charles Courtney who served as Hoagland's mentor and manager. At age 17, Hoagland started competing with walkers in this area defeating them decisively. Later Hoagland took on the more notable pedestrians with a career of many victories and few defeats. He participated in over 450 races during his career putting away his walking gear in 1912 following a record of courage, endurance and strength. In 1887, Hoagland set the world record of 100 miles in 18 hours and four minutes without a stop. As a result, considerable money changed hands as the odds were 3 to 1 against Hoagland. At his peak, Hoagland would give handicaps of 1 to 15 miles against the best walkers of the world and still outwalk his competitors. Record books show that he was known to cover 500 miles in individual races.

In later years, Hoagland served as a game manager in Cayuga County apprehending hundreds of persons for violations of game laws. Hoagland took great pride that no violator every laid a hand on him while resisting arrest. His professional career also included serving as an umpire in the National Baseball League. With the many thousands of miles which he traveled in his walking matches and game protector patrol, Hoagland took great pride that his feet were without a blemish. Proper fit of shoes and proper foot care were his advice to those who suffered from "pedal ailments", advice that is still relevant today.

Will Hoagland

Hidden Heroes - Charles & Dr. Elizabeth Wakeley

Which story to tell about the Wakeley family of Levanna was a dilemma to this writer. Would it be Dr. Elizabeth Wanzer Wakeley (1831-1902), a Quaker and prominent physician who practiced medicine in the area for over 30 years during a time when men dominated this profession? Or would it be her husband, Dr. Charles C. Wakeley (1832-1916), the grandson of Abner Wakeley, a Baptist preacher and pioneer settler of the area?

Charles distinguished himself as a manufacturer, farmer, civil engineer, surveyor, architect and astrophysicist. In 1863 and according to the New York Times, Charles Wakeley and his associate, Lewis Rutherford, took the first photographs of the moon through a photographic telescope which they had developed. The telescope is now in the collection of Columbia University. But Charles' early roots in farming held fast. In 1874, two years before Heinz Catsup was first manufactured, Charles founded the Cayuga Lake Catsup Manufactory which the family continued to operate until 1904. In the early days, the catsup was shipped out in different sized bottles from the Cayuga Lake landing near their home. By 1880, the operation employed 15 workers from area families and produced 7,000 gallons of catsup. By 1896, bottles were abandoned in favor of large barrels which could be shipped out by the LVRR line which traversed the eastern shores of Cayuga Lake. By 1900, 60 tons of catsup were being processed in a season. So the next time you are in the grocery store, check out the many varieties and sizes of catsup offered and think - what if?